Alabama Rig

[mhood]

I personally think this LURE is far more sporting than live bait, should we make live bait illegal

Live b8 is illegal in most every bass tournament I'm aware of. Hide and watch this Alabama Rig go the same way. And how do you justify the damage the rig is said to do to the fish in light of catch and release? Hardly grasping at straws to see the real problems with the rig. I sure hope this one is a quick flash in the pan...the sooner we get on to the next banjo sensation the better as far as I'm concerned.

[l2yan]

With all the pressure lake shores have seen for decades now, many believe bass have been pushed more and more onto deeper structure. Maybe the A-Rig will push them all back!

[DUZBASS]

I personally think this LURE is far more sporting than live bait, should we make live bait illegal

Live b8 is illegal in most every bass tournament I'm aware of. Hide and watch this Alabama Rig go the same way. And how do you justify the damage the rig is said to do to the fish in light of catch and release? Hardly grasping at straws to see the real problems with the rig. I sure hope this one is a quick flash in the pan...the sooner we get on to the next banjo sensation the better as far as I'm concerned.

I dont fish tournaments and I actually stated that in my post. I also said that I believe they should be banned in tournaments.

Have you actually fished one??

I didnt experience any more fish damage than any other lure would. I never had a fished hooked with a second bait somewhere else but the mouth. Occasionally they will get tangled in the other baits, but it is superficial, with hook points not penetrating in most cases or just slight puncture wounds, never had one past the barb. I am sure it can happen, but just like musky fishing you could cut the hook to save the fish.

Honestly a three treble hooked jerkbait does a lot more damage to a fish than these single hooks in my experience, thats one reason why I like the 110s with the barbless center hook. Should we make all baits single hooked then to be fair? There are actually less hooks on this rig than a 110...

If anything, the most damaging thing to bass fisheries are advanced electronics, poaching and people moving spawning fish off their beds (read: tournament guys taking big spawning females to the weigh in). This bait is a drop in the bucket compared to those issues and like any bait the fish will get used to seeing it (every boat on Ky lake had one or both guys throwing them when I was there) and it wont be as hot, but I am chucking it regardless

[mhood]

Have you actually fished one??

No and probably won't (although I did jump on a chatterb8 and a Basstrix and I'm still looking for a Sexy Shad crankb8). You suit yourself of course. Enjoy chunking your 6 or 7 ounce monstrosity with your way too heavy for LMB rigs. I'd still rather catch a 2 pounder on UL BC than a 4 pounder on a tarpon rig.

[DUZBASS]

Have you actually fished one??

No and probably won't (although I did jump on a chatterb8 and a Basstrix and I'm still looking for a Sexy Shad crankb8). You suit yourself of course. Enjoy chunking your 6 or 7 ounce monstrosity with your way too heavy for LMB rigs. I'd still rather catch a 2 pounder on UL BC than a 4 pounder on a tarpon rig.

I hear ya and if I could catch them on KY lake in the fall on a UL I would, but it isnt effective and my precious fishing time is limited so I am using the best tool in the box for a given situation

I dont think this will be a fad for me, not after the whooping I gave them with it this trip.

But different strokes for different folks

[DarkShadow]

What I'm hating is the fact that the 'secret' of bass becoming less finicky when presented with a 'school of bait' rather than a solitary one is now out of the bag.

Catching 14 pounds of bass on one cast using tandem rigged baits is apparently not very secret anymore.

[fishingandfords]

Have you actually fished one??

No and probably won't (although I did jump on a chatterb8 and a Basstrix and I'm still looking for a Sexy Shad crankb8). You suit yourself of course. Enjoy chunking your 6 or 7 ounce monstrosity with your way too heavy for LMB rigs. I'd still rather catch a 2 pounder on UL BC than a 4 pounder on a tarpon rig.

I hear ya and if I could catch them on KY lake in the fall on a UL I would, but it isnt effective and my precious fishing time is limited so I am using the best tool in the box for a given situation

I dont think this will be a fad for me, not after the whooping I gave them with it this trip.

But different strokes for different folks

agreed. I'm not against throwing the bait if I had a boat

[mike304]

No it cannot be used in Champlain. The dec official didn't make any distinctions of the shared water vs ny only area. They just said it is illegal to use in Champlain per the special regulations and legal to use anywhere else in ny per the general regulations.

This is true, but with a catch. I spoke directly with a DEC Aquatic biologist yesterday about this. The Lake Champlain Reg allows for no more than 2 lures per line, no maximum # of hook points. According to him the Alabama rig can be used on Champlain but can only have 2 lures with hooks attached, but you could have attractors hooked to the other three swivels.

[thelatrobe33]

BASS rules committee just released today that they have banned this rig from Elite Series tournament competition, including the Bassmaster Classic.

http://www.bassmaster.com/news/bass-imp ... ite-series

[Stratos]

The A-Rig seems quite expensive to put together, and I am not talking about the rig itself. I got the Manns version at $24.99, but getting all the swimbaits and jig heads adds up. Good thing I have been talking to some nice local guides here in the midwest, they saved me alot of money. I decided to go with Berkley's swimmin shad baits. They actually come 5 in a pack with the weighted hooks for $3.49 at BPS. In Missouri, we can only have 3 hooks per rig, but you can have other baits as long as they have any hooks.

I want to go with 3 swimmin shads then the other 2 either spinner blades, 4" grubs (with the hook cut off), or swimmin shads (with the hook cut off). What do you guys think?

[The Way]

The A-Rig seems quite expensive to put together, and I am not talking about the rig itself. I got the Manns version at $24.99, but getting all the swimbaits and jig heads adds up. Good thing I have been talking to some nice local guides here in the midwest, they saved me alot of money. I decided to go with Berkley's swimmin shad baits. They actually come 5 in a pack with the weighted hooks for $3.49 at BPS. In Missouri, we can only have 3 hooks per rig, but you can have other baits as long as they have any hooks.

I want to go with 3 swimmin shads then the other 2 either spinner blades, 4" grubs (with the hook cut off), or swimmin shads (with the hook cut off). What do you guys think?

I would suggest going with blades, personally. Should (A) help prevent anyone from calling DNR on you and/or DNR themselves seeing the rig and assuming all the baits are hooked, and (B) result in fewer bass chomping the bits w/o hooks.

[dragon1]

Yeeaaayyy to the A-Rig...thanks for taking the "sport and fight" (not to mention minimizing to a certain extent, the mystique of having to figure out and outsmart the fish/condition/season/body of water etc.) out of bass fishing!

I supposed a good mag @ 500 yards to dispose of the last vestiges of the "true" (large males that carry the best DNA, protect against competing predators best and pass on the most successful learned traits to young) African Lion is just as manly (read effectively gratifying), eh?

Yeah...I suppose one can easily read that I don't think much of this rig, other than to be used as the "food-gathering" umbrella rig that it really is.

[team510]

i just orderded a spread em rig from bullybaits. it has 3 4in swim baits ready to go!

ill put a review up when i get it

[DUZBASS]

Yeeaaayyy to the A-Rig...thanks for taking the "sport and fight" (not to mention minimizing to a certain extent, the mystique of having to figure out and outsmart the fish/condition/season/body of water etc.) out of bass fishing!

I supposed a good mag @ 500 yards to dispose of the last vestiges of the "true" (large males that carry the best DNA, protect against competing predators best and pass on the most successful learned traits to young) African Lion is just as manly (read effectively gratifying), eh?

Yeah...I suppose one can easily read that I don't think much of this rig, other than to be used as the "food-gathering" umbrella rig that it really is.

really man, comparing the a-rig to shooting a lion with a high powered rifle i really hope that was sarcasm, but im guessing its not...

and, you still have to fish it right and in the right conditions etc etc etc, but how would you know, it seems clear you havent even tried it

im sorry, but mystique and bass fishing do not go together, bass are dumb, plain and simple, and this is just another of 100s of ways we have concocted to fool them

you should definitely stay away from almost all saltwater fishing then, because you would consider everything they do poaching and unsporting, and probably multi-nymph rigs and hopper and dropper for fly fishing for trout is cheating too? I think spinnerbaits with more than one blade should be outlawed as well, wouldnt want the bass to think its more than one baitfish

everyone is blowing this thing WAY out of proportion

[mhood]

everyone is blowing this thing WAY out of proportion

Some things just blow up reel good.